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Realtime troubleshooting — emails missing or delayed

If new email does not appear immediately, or some messages seem to be missing, in most cases this is normal and resolves on its own. MailDesk syncs in the background and is near real-time, not instant. This page explains the expected timing, then walks through the things worth checking.

5 min read Basic and Pro

If new email does not appear immediately, or some messages seem to be missing, in most cases this is normal and resolves on its own. MailDesk syncs in the background and is near real-time, not instant. This page explains the expected timing, then walks through the things worth checking.

Available in: Basic and Pro. The background sync engine is part of Basic; Pro adds true provider push (Gmail and Outlook) and faster message opening on top of the same engine.

How sync timing works (read this first)

MailDesk checks for new mail on a schedule and updates the open view automatically once a sync completes. So:

  • New emails may appear a few seconds to a few minutes later.
  • Short delays are normal and depend on the provider and on system load.
  • The interface refreshes by itself after each sync — you do not have to reload.

What 'near real-time' means per provider

With the 4.2.0 update, Gmail and Outlook can deliver new mail in seconds via true provider push. IMAP accounts do not have a push channel, so new IMAP mail appears within the regular sync interval — but messages still open instantly because their bodies are warmed in advance (see Body prefetch and the message cache). On the shipped 4.1.x build, all providers arrive on the scheduled interval (roughly two to three minutes).

New mail does not appear right away

Most likely reasons

  • A sync cycle has not run yet.
  • A normal provider-side or IMAP delay.
  • A temporary provider rate limit.

What to do

  1. Wait a moment for the next sync cycle.
  2. Refresh the view.
  3. Confirm the folder you are watching is visible in the sidebar (see below).

In most cases the email appears shortly.

Older mail seems to be missing

During the initial sync, MailDesk loads the most recent messages first and then fills in older history gradually in the background. This keeps the mailbox usable straight away instead of blocking on a long full download.

What to do

  • Leave MailDesk open and give the background fill time to complete.
  • Avoid disconnecting and reconnecting the account repeatedly — each reconnect restarts work that was already in progress.

Large mailboxes

For very large mailboxes the history fill is deliberately paced: newest messages first, then older mail in capped, lower-priority batches. This is by design — recent mail is available immediately while the archive catches up over time.

A folder shows "0 emails"

A folder can be hidden from the MailDesk sidebar while still being present on the account. The Is Visible flag controls whether a folder appears in the sidebar — if it is unchecked, the folder is simply not shown.

  1. Open the mailbox account.
  2. Go to the Folders tab.
  3. Find the folder and make sure Is Visible is checked.
  4. Confirm in your webmail that the folder actually contains mail.

If the folder is hidden, MailDesk does not display it in the sidebar.

Gmail labels look like duplicates

If you use Gmail, remember that Gmail uses labels, not folders. One email can appear under several labels at once. This is normal and is not duplication — just make sure you are looking at the correct label.

Sent mail appears but incoming does not

Possible causes:

  • A delay on the incoming side only.
  • The Inbox folder is hidden from the sidebar.
  • Provider-specific routing of incoming mail.

What to do

  1. Open the mailbox account, go to the Folders tab, and verify the Inbox is Is Visible.
  2. Wait for the next sync cycle.
  3. Refresh the view.

For sent mail that does not show up at all, see Composing and sending.

Realtime sync (4.2.0): how recovery works behind the scenes

Near-release feature (4.2.0)

True provider push for Gmail and Outlook ships with 4.2.0 and is not yet in the shipped 4.1.x build. On 4.1.x, all providers use scheduled background sync. The recovery behaviors below describe 4.2.0.

With push enabled, MailDesk does not depend on the push channel alone — several safeguards make sure mail still arrives even when a provider has a hiccup. None of these need your attention; they are listed so you understand what MailDesk does on its own.

Push subscriptions renew themselves

A Gmail or Outlook push subscription has a limited lifetime. MailDesk renews each one well before it expires — the Gmail watch is refreshed roughly every six days, and the Outlook subscription is extended automatically. If renewal cannot complete, the account falls back to scheduled sync, so mail keeps flowing either way.

Silence detection triggers a full resync

Both Gmail and Outlook notifications are at-least-once, not guaranteed-exactly-once, so a notification can occasionally be dropped. MailDesk watches for this: if an account goes about six hours with no push notification, it automatically requests a full delta resync so nothing is silently missed. After the resync, push resumes normally.

Push failure degrades gracefully

If push stops working — for example a provider revokes the subscription or asks for re-authorization — MailDesk does not stop delivering mail. It quietly falls back to the scheduled background sync, the same engine that runs on every build. Where re-authorization is genuinely required, the account is flagged for an administrator to re-authorize; until then, scheduled sync keeps the mailbox up to date.

When should I investigate further?

The expected timing above covers the vast majority of "missing" mail. Investigate further only if:

  • No new email appears for a long time.
  • A connection test fails.
  • An error message is shown.
  • Sync has not progressed at all (the initial fill never advances).

In that case, check:

For administrators

A MailDesk administrator can generate a per-account diagnostic snapshot to attach to a support ticket. It reports sync timestamps, the account's sync profile, push-subscription health (state, last renewal, last notification), and failed-queue counts — and is deliberately stripped of any message content, recipients, subjects, tokens, or secrets, so it is safe to share. See Body prefetch and the message cache.

Quick checklist

Before contacting support, confirm:

  • You waited a few minutes for the next sync cycle.
  • The initial sync has finished.
  • The folders you expect are visible in the sidebar (Folders tab, Is Visible).
  • The account's authorization is still valid.

Tip

In most cases, "missing emails" are simply still syncing — recent mail first, history filling in behind it.